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6502 CPU Co-creator, Chuck Peddle, Dies at Age 82

I just received an email from Bill Mensch that Chuck Peddle passed away on December 15 (2019). Chuck Peddle was one of the team of eight Motorola employees and engineers who worked on the 6800 microprocessor and left the company for MOS Technology in 1974 along with Harry Bawcom, Wil Mathys, Rod Orgill, Ray Hirt, Mike Janes, Terry Holdt, and Bill Mensch.

Peddle considered the $300 price point of the 6800 a disadvantage, and urged Motorola management to pursue a more affordable microprocessor that could be used in a wider array of applications. When they refused, Peddle convinced seven other Motorola employees, including my father, Terry Holdt, to pack up their homes and move across the country to begin work on what would become the revolutionary 6502 microprocessor at MOS Technology, a wafer-fab company in Valley Forge, PA founded by a former colleague of his from General Electric, John Paivinen. After Commodore Business Machines purchased MOS Technology in 1976, Peddle oversaw the creation of the Commodore PET computer, the predecessor of the Commodore 64, the best-selling personal computer of all time.

While curating the information for the team6502.org website, one of my favorite anecdotes comes from MOS Technology employee, Frank Slattery, who wrote:

What a great bunch of guys the Motorola eight were. I was the manager of the layout people and it was my duty to make sure that the Motorola eight had every opportunity to do their design work with no problems. I was standing next to Chuck Peddle when he said to Jack Tramiel, the CEO of Commodore Business Machines, “With this chip we can build a personal computer." It was the first time I ever heard the words, “Personal Computer.”